Up to four explosions hit outside a security directorate in the capital of Iraq’s usually peaceful autonomous Kurdistan region

Up to four explosions hit outside a security directorate in the capital of Iraq's usually peaceful autonomous Kurdistan region on Sunday.

Kurdish television channels reported four people were killed and another eight people were wounded in the blasts in Arbil.

A high-ranking security official said four car bombs exploded near the headquarters of the Iraqi Kurds' asayesh security service in Arbil, causing an unspecified number of casualties.
  
Another senior security official said the first blast was a suicide car bomb, while an explosives-rigged ambulance was detonated when people rushed to check for casualties.

Sunday's blasts were the first to hit Arbil since May 2007, when a truck bomb exploded near the same asayesh headquarters, killing 14 people and wounding more than 80.
  
The blasts came a day after results were announced for the region's parliamentary elections, which saw an opposition movement in second place ahead of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's party.